DC people are xyz (low income, fit in, crime)

[Moth]

Originally Posted by JimGriffith

I'll throw in a couple more cents.

People who move to LA to write screenplays or New York to make money or Seattle to develop software do not think they are saving the world, nor do they think they should have more power over other people's lives.

I'm painting with a massive brush here and obviously this can't apply to everyone in say Petworth, or Cheverly, or Vienna etc.

We've all got different experiences and different anecdotal evidence, but from my POV, the DC reputation stems from people coming here believing in their own greatness and superiority. They seek connections and power, and they'll show unadulterated contempt to those who don't recognize that greatness and superiority.

It's bipartisan too. Imagine a city of angry Alex P. Keaton's -- on the right and the left.

It is possible to avoid all these people. I've done it for long stretches. But they do dominate the overall zeitgeist here.

There might be something to that, but only just.

IMHO the most arrogant people I have met are in Dallas, TX. Now, let me emphasize that Dallas and Texas as a whole are full of some of the friendliest people around. But there is also a more than noticable hardcore God Squad sector. The result is people constantly preaching Jesus to you, even in the office. To me, such presumptiousness, such a lack of respect is the height of arrogance.

With regards to another example, take a casual look at the Hawaii threads on this site. I cannot imagine DC possessing that level of arrogant disdain.

Again, just my POV.

[HomerBrink]

Jim Griffith - your posts hit home with me.

[LIS123]

I'll agree that this area has no shortage of arrogant, power hungry people who think they are way more important than they truly are (and who can be replaced instantly). That said, this description does not apply to the majority of the people I have met here. Besides being overwhelmingly Democratic, it's hard for me to characterize the majority of the people in this area.

Don't let any preconceived notions or stereotypes of people get in your way. If you make an effort to make friends and meet new people, you'll be able to do so. Same with dating/relationships. Just make the effort, b/c people won't go out of their way for you.

[jmking]

Originally Posted by Moth

There might be something to that, but only just.

IMHO the most arrogant people I have met are in Dallas, TX. Now, let me emphasize that Dallas and Texas as a whole are full of some of the friendliest people around. But there is also a more than noticable hardcore God Squad sector. The result is people constantly preaching Jesus to you, even in the office. To me, such presumptiousness, such a lack of respect is the height of arrogance.

With regards to another example, take a casual look at the Hawaii threads on this site. I cannot imagine DC possessing that level of arrogant disdain.

Again, just my POV.

Not to mention those arrogant, self important Dallas Cowboys!

[MDbound2]

This is a really good discussion. I lived in DC many many moons ago and I think the reason I left the area was because of my perceived rudeness of the people there. I've been away from DC awhile but I kinda miss the area. Now I will be relocating back to Maryland because I don't think I can deal with living in DC again. But I think what you have to realize is that there are a lot of people there who are "transplants" from other areas. The locals have their side of DC and the transplants have their side. I still believe DC is a lovely place once you get a crew you can hang out with (and there will be many because most people there are new!), you will be fine. I don't think most people there are rude, just some, but once you find your way around, you'll love it.

[TheseGoTo11]

Always found the people here to be very friendly, but then again I moved from Boston. Think the ones who complain the most are from smaller towns in the midwest or South.

[Tom Lennox 70]

Originally Posted by Bluefly

While I don't disagree there are a lot of mismatched suit-wearing divas, I'm not sure people attracted to DC for the political fix are any different from people attracted to LA for the entertainment industry or New York for finance / fashion or Seattle for IT.

These are people who have a professional mission to their lives beyond just making a living, and they concentrate in these epicenters of particular industries. They are there in droves in New York, but mixed into a more heterogeneous population of locals and transplants. DC's just a lot more tilted toward the transplants due to its smaller size.

This is true with the vibe focusing heavily on career and money above all else. A lot of major cities are like that though I've found Baltimore and Pittsburgh to be very friendly. I moved to the Baltimore area for grad school and I am NEVER living anywhere in the DC area ever again. Also a lot of the rude, arrogant people move down here from New York and New Jersey whose transplants are much more heavily represented here than Southerners and Midwesterners. I've heard even Chicago doesn't have as harried or unfriendly a vibe as DC.

[peanutbutternjelly]

It's a commuter town, everyone who lives here doesn't consider it "home". Most of the people who live in or around the city work for the gov't, weren't here 5 years ago, and won't be here 5 years from now.

So they don't care about this area where they live. Plus the weather sucks, and the traffic is horrendous. Welcome to DC!!

[verobeach]

The people in DC and those who work in DC are power driven and image conscious. They treat friendship as if it were an unnecessary frivolity. We lived not in DC but in Alexandria VA for 3 years and neighbors would drive into their garage and lower their door behind them before they cut their engines to avoid any social contact. We attended a few neighborhood parties and by the third or fourth, they were still handing out name tags because nobody wanted to make the attempt to learn their neighbor's name. We got friendly with one neighbor who invited us to an 11 a.m. brunch and soon as we got there they set a time, 1 o'clock, when they had to 'run'.

First of all, government employees, of which my husband was one, aren't especially gregarious high energy folk. No kid in HS destined for great things says to himself, I want to be a government worker when I grow up. And then there's power. Everyone identifies themselves by how much power they wield. "Hello, I'm *#& and I'm Director of ABC, Divison of XYZ".

Three years... And I couldn't wait to leave!!! Meanest, most self-centered human beings on the planet.

[Bluefly]

^^
I'm sorry you were stuck in the niche you were in Alexandria. Obviously there is a large contingent of the power-driven government cogs in the area (especially in places like Alexandria), but a lot of people drawn to DC are not just government cogs and are not the "meanest, most self-centered human beings on the planet".

A lot of people are drawn to the think tanks, non-profits, foundations, and national associations that feed off and influence government. They often graduated from amongst the best schools in the world, are very intellectual, and are focused on figuring out how to solve some of our world's most pressing problems. I've known people who have spent years trying to help children on the Gaza strip or training the federal agencies in how terrorists think or who are creating new types of economies that serve both human and ecological needs, or are working to foster global peace.

These people, and so many others drawn to DC to flex their intellectual prowess, are far from selfish.